Sunday, April 19, 2015

Jean Chardin, Travels (1673)


Western Georgian, as seen by French traveler Jean Chardin who visited Georgia in 1673. The drawing was first published in the 1686 edition of Chardin's travelogue but this version comes from the 1711 edition produced in Amsterdam. Looking at it, I am reminded of Italian traveler Giosafat (Josaphat) Barbaro who visited western Georgia in 1472 (two hundred years before Chardin) and noted that "they [Georgians] go with their heads rounded and shaven, leaving only a little around, after the manner of our abbots."

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